Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog
Weight Gain Not An Issue... When It's Muscle!
When I started this vegan weight lifting challenge over 13 weeks ago, I weighed about 192 pounds. Today, when I weighed myself, the scale read 204. Normally, this would be a time to panic and up the cardio, cut back on foods, etc. Except this time, I'm building muscle and I know that the weight gain is not because of extra fat.
For one thing, my waist size hasn't changed. Everything fits the same. The only way to know for sure is to get my body fat checked again. I had it checked a few weeks ago and found out the extra weight then was muscle. In anther few weeks, I will find out if the other extra weight is indeed muscle growth.
This is a whole new mind set for me. After losing 150 pounds, it took a while to get used to the fact that my weight has to go up for muscle growth. It does for every body builder, even vegan body builders.
I know I'm eating as clean as humanly possible. Lots of healthy vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds plus quinoa and oatmeal. No added sugars or processed foods, just lots of healthy foods.
I am trying not to weigh myself more than once a week now. No point stressing about it as long as my waist size stays the same.
About the author
Richard Hubbard was once over 350 pounds. After a doctor's physical and finding out he was pre-hypertensive, he decided to make changes and avoid medication. Over the course of a year, Rich lost the first 120 pounds of his incredible 150 pound weight loss. He ate healthy foods based on Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat To Live". He was mostly plant based, but switched to completely plant based in September of 2016. He also became a vegan in the process as his compassion for animals increased. He credits bodybuilder Robert Cheeke for influencing his decision of going vegan. Rich aspires to be a vegan bodybuilder and is planning his first half marathon this year.